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OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread

LeafGm said:
I guess my point is, this chest-thumping “we’re a destination” talk is all just here-say (like that Paul George rumour) until the rubber meets the road and one of these guys actually chooses to come here or stay here.

Rumours of Paul George being willing to come here if he was a package deal with the reigning finals MVP isn’t enough to convince me that there’s not still a lot of work ahead to really make the Raptors a destination, particularly for American players. But obviously I hope you’re the one that’s right here.
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But we just had all stars choose to stay here. It took a hand grenade to get Derozan to leave and I don't think Lowry would be much different.

That's what I don't get about this entire line of argument. Unless if the functional definition of the word "destination" is: A place a top 3-5 american born player will come to and stay forever, the Raptors are there. Build a good team again (not great, just good) and we would be able to do this all over again, but with the star player looking at the Kawhi era and believing this is possible here now. Is it going to be as easy here as it is in an elite American market? No. But if we were up against 2nd and 3rd tier American markets, we look pretty ****ing good right now.
 
CH1 said:
Masai’s goal is discovering future Kawhis all over Africa. It’d be nice to have Giannis along for the mission.
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and that is where the Raptors have an edge going forward if they're able to make Masai king for life. I think it will take a while for american cats with the Lou Williams mentality to get over being in a different country. But to these European and African dudes? Being able to play in the NBA and not live in the US is going to be appealing. The US isn't viewed internationally like it once was. Teenagers overseas growing up right now are looking at the US and seeing Trump's America.
 
We can argue semantics but there's no doubt that Toronto looks hellamore attractive now after what the FO, ownership, and fans showed this year than they've ever been.

Hell, if kawhi was born and raised in some northeastern state he probably would have stayed.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
And who’s the elite US market anyway - just LA and NY.
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Yeah. With occasional appearances by Boston and Miami on that list, but they're not permanent members. It's like the UN security council that way. I'd put the Raptors right now in a tier with Boston, Houston, Chicago, etc.
 
MindzEye said:
But we just had all stars choose to stay here. It took a hand grenade to get Derozan to leave and I don't think Lowry would be much different.

That's what I don't get about this entire line of argument. Unless if the functional definition of the word "destination" is: A place a top 3-5 american born player will come to and stay forever, the Raptors are there. Build a good team again (not great, just good) and we would be able to do this all over again, but with the star player looking at the Kawhi era and believing this is possible here now. Is it going to be as easy here as it is in an elite American market? No. But if we were up against 2nd and 3rd tier American markets, we look pretty ****ing good right now.
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Lowry wanted to go to San Antonio like a year ago
 
CH1 said:
I hope weather ain’t #2, because we won’t have it till climate change gets more serious.
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I mean if it wasn't for this lingering polar vortex the weather here might be looking every bit as attractive as the increasingly burning hellscape down south.
 
Anyways we're never building a team here like the LA teams just built theirs. It's never gonna happen unless some Toronto boys become mega stars.

We have to draft and trade for stars.
 
CH1 said:
That seems to contradict our earlier statements — loyalty is just a measure of lacking options.
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Your quoted chunk kind of removes what I was saying. The term "destination" can't simply mean LA or NY. You can be a destination city while still not being able to land a Lebron or Kawhi in free agency.
 
MindzEye said:
Why wouldn't you trust him? He added to a good but not great core slowly and patiently and when he saw an opportunity to take that good core to great, he took it (twice) and pushed us over the top. We have 3 legit young players to build another good core around, 2 of them with big time finals experience that know what winning takes. We also have a handful of veterans that will return good assets and a bucket of cap space coming to attract another star.
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It's not that I don't trust him per se...and btw, let's also remember some here wanted him fired pre-Kawhi because all he had done was add Ibaka. either you or zeke said that, I forget which, but it was one of you. then the admittedly brilliant trade was made. I have no question whatsoever about that one move. who would? we got rid of that choking loser margarine star DeRozan(I don't care how much he loved toronto btw) and crushed the Lebronto humiliations with a real, honest to god winner of a superstar and a title.

but regardless, I was questioning the idea of prolonged relevance for this team. We didn't have a prayer till Kawhi got here. Now we don't have him. What superstar are we getting now? How much more of a case to a superstar could you make for the Toronto market and franchise than the Raptors did this year for Kawhi Leonard? It's essentially impossible for them to have done more.

I did listen to Kawhi and enjoyed the moment. We all should listen to him. there was great wisdom in that remark. It's Toronto. Champions are few and far between here.

I think any hope in ever getting a top 5 player here again lies with international players. Mine for more Siakams, except even better. Perhaps a guy like a Giannis does become the league's best player or close to it, someone who wouldn't look on Toronto as "the Siberia of basketball". But like I said before Kawhi came here, and I acknowledge and respect that you disagreed, the team really had no chance without that top player or, dare to dream, player(s). After we won last month, even I was imagining the possibility of what that would be like. Not only would Kawhi stay, ****, he'd be having Durant or some other big name coming here to join him in the next year. And they would come to Toronto because Kawhi is there, and he'd have to power to get others. Once Kawhi stayed, all kinds of shit would have become possible for this team. Thinking about stuff like that makes you giddy.

I'm hoping Masai Ujiri makes me look like a fool very very soon and pulls off some other trade to get us a superstar who wants to stay here. I am 100% sincere in saying that. I want to believe this title has turned things around for Toronto in terms of perception around the NBA.
 
zeke said:
I mean if it wasn't for this lingering polar vortex the weather here might be looking every bit as attractive as the increasingly burning hellscape down south.
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Burning? It’s approaching mid July and there hasn’t been one hot day here yet.
 
MindzEye said:
Your quoted chunk kind of removes what I was saying. The term "destination" can't simply mean LA or NY. You can be a destination city while still not being able to land a Lebron or Kawhi in free agency.
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OK. But the NBA title really hinges on landing Kawhi-LeBron types. There are no St Louis Blues type scenarios in the new NBA.

I think Africa is our best bet. And we got the right exec running the show.
 
zeke said:
Anyways we're never building a team here like the LA teams just built theirs. It's never gonna happen unless some Toronto boys become mega stars.

We have to draft and trade for stars.
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I don't think free agency is far fetched, but yeah. Something I argued years ago on here about not wanting to tank was that every year, the crop of kids the Toronto area is developing gets better and better. Canada has produced a lottery pick in every draft but one since 2013, most of them top 10. Wiggins and Bennett were disappointments, but what happens when some of these cats start to hit free agency, or get unhappy with where they are like their US counterparts have the tendency of?

The pipeline is stupid deep right now too at the prep and high school level. We're looking at having to build 1 more generation of Raptors basketball before that ****ing tsunami really starts hitting the league.
 
zeke said:
Anyways we're never building a team here like the LA teams just built theirs. It's never gonna happen unless some Toronto boys become mega stars.

We have to draft and trade for stars.
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And always be in fear that those stars we draft or trade don’t get lured away.
 
I have faith in Masai. He’s not gonna tear down this team now. I don’t think he’ll feel it’s time yet.

First he’s going to make the rounds and see if he can steal away a star player in a trade. Then he’s gonna look for another one.

I love and worship playoff Kawhi, but that was a legendary performance. He’s very unlikely to ever repeat that, and it’s a good bet no one in the near future will either. So the proposition isn’t no Kawhi, no chance, for me. If we can land another star player somehow, we can take the east again. And once you get to the finals, as we just proved, anything can happen.
 
CH1 said:
OK. But the NBA title really hinges on landing Kawhi-LeBron types. There are no St Louis Blues type scenarios in the new NBA.

I think Africa is our best bet. And we got the right exec running the show.
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Sure, but trading for that guy has shown to be a more viable strategy for getting those guys than draft and develop is. To get our own lifetime Raptor star, yeah we're going to have to draft that and him being foreign would definitely help, but if you stock the cupboards with good players/prospects, you're always going to be able to take a run at elite players as they come up. For example, if we load up on assets from Gasol/Lowry/Serge/Norm, I wouldn't be remotely shocked if we were the winners of the KAT sweepstakes next season.
 
Shit, I knew this was a possibility so not shocked but it hurts a bit. Got the title tho. Let’s see what Masai can do. Are there any potential stars we could acquire?
 
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